george wrote:Why wasn't the door locked?
It could be unlocked for any number of reasons, none of which really impact the question of justification.
Some cars unlock automatically when placed in Park. On some of those the "feature" cannot easily be disabled.
A passenger exiting may have left the door unlocked. With central power locks at the driver's command being common now, fewer people learn to lock as they leave from other doors.
It's not uncommon to unlock doors as an intended passenger approaches. An opportunistic criminal might strike at that moment.
Sometimes windows are rolled down for ventilation.
Sometimes locks don't work.
A weapon may not be visible, but there's no way of knowing what his real plans are. The car itself can be a weapon with which the owner and any number of other people could be killed. Someone trying to take control of it by force is a threat.dwsintxs wrote:Lastly . . .if an attacker attempted to gain control of the vehicle while you're inside (and the attacker is coming from either side) but does NOT have a weapon (in other words, he just plans on using physical force, no knife , no gun) are you justified in using deadly force?